[Retitled] Critics Choice 2011

[DracoM]

Is it just me who found himself laughing out loud at the so far OTT glutinous hyperbole of BAL Critics of the Year as to be going down the other side?

OK, so the Smetana recording was interesting, but as AMcG said quietly, it was just a historical footnote, not a mega-world-shaking apocalypse, but listening to Rob Cowan you'd have thought it changed the course of world history. For me, it is exactly that kind of otiose sentimentality and general wordy guff that makes someone a highly suspect critic - I know full well that that is not a view shared by various critics' fan club. I don't care if such and such knows every jot and tittle of the recording's history, how many other versions of the piece he knows by the same team etc etc, in Salzburg, or Walthamstow Town Hall in 1967 or whenever, or so and so had a cold or missed a bus on the way to the recording but.........

And that kind of painting up of performances became more and more how the OTHERS began to talk as the prog went on as if to compete. The worry too is that frankly that method is becoming more and more prevalent in the way some music critics approach their jobs. Not so much critics as ardent advocates for the record industry.

Maybe I'm way behind on this, but I prefer objectivity, evaluation and not the spieling of suspect special-pleading guff, and I really writhed under the relentless OTT style of this whole broadcast.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Is it just me who found himself laughing out loud at the so far OTT glutinous hyperbole of BAL Critics of the Year as to be going down the other side?

Possibly: I didn't see the funny side and got so furious at the idiotic, self-congratulatory, opinionated wittering that I turned the radio off for fear that I'd throw it through the window if I didn't!

Maybe I'm way behind on this, but I prefer objectivity, evaluation and not the spieling of suspect special-pleading guff, and I really writhed under the relentless OTT style of this whole broadcast.

If you're "way behind", just look to your side: that's me standing there!

Best Wishes.

[DracoM]

SO right. I was trying to be 'diplomatic'.

Luckily my radio landed in some wilting vegetation in the next garden. I am in training for the discus in the Olympics.

Not.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I was trying to be 'diplomatic'.

So was I!

[Flay]

Come off it, you are being too harsh. They were asked to give their own opinions, and that is what they are giving. I thought that the Smetana was a moving performance in its context. Why shouldn't Rob have that opinion?

I have enjoyed the programme. Chill out a little, it's Xmas.

[Nick Armstrong]

Maybe I'm way behind on this, but I prefer objectivity, evaluation and not the spieling of suspect special-pleading guff, and I really writhed under the relentless OTT style of this whole broadcast.

If you're "way behind", just look to your side: that's me standing there!

The rather large shadow looming behind you is mine, standing with you on the suspicious side of the mountain.

That said, they were supposed to be talking about their 'favourite' recordings of the year, so it would be odd if the proponents of this or that recording did not explain their enthusiasm.

And Rob Cowan did rather trash the recording of 'Artaxerxes' (why has that not come up yet on the 'Alphabet Associations' thread!! ), putting the boot into the hapless countertenor.

I have only listened to the first hour of the discussion though, the rest is on the old SD card for listening during a Sunday lie-in... Let's see whether I remain with you, or trot over to join in the bonhomie of Mr Flay's Christmas party

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Chill out a little,

Have you been outside today? - I did (to retrieve my radio and do some glazing repairs): it's ruddy FREEZING!

it's Xmas.

Bah! Humbug!

[Panjandrum]

Bah! Humbug!

Seconded. Anyone who says, "Ith only Chwithmuth" is guilty of the most appalling canting humbug.

[subcontrabass]

Seconded. Anyone who says, "Ith only Chwistmuth" is guilty of the most appalling canting humbug.

Christmas does not start until next Saturday evening.

[Nick Armstrong]

Seconded. Anyone who says, "Ith only Chwistmuth" is guilty of the most appalling canting humbug.

Never knowingly anything other than overstated, our Panny!

Why make a point subtly when you can drive it home with a sledgehammer like a tentpeg through the temple, Reggie Kray style...

What a little ray of sunshine you are.

[Panjandrum]

What a little ray of sunshine you are.

Raining outside; last time I looked.

[Nick Armstrong]

Raining outside; last time I looked.

Whereas here there was a fantastic sunset, the clouds a little while before taking on a extraordinary hue and bathing the town in an unusual and magical light.

May I take this opportunity to wish you a very happy Christmas for this time next week, Mr Scroo...errrr.... Panjandrum!!!

[Panjandrum]

Bah humbug!

I have to confess that this struck me as a bizarre undertaking. It seems de rigueur for someone to play the part of Marley's Ghost on these occasions:last year, Jeremy Summerly took it upon himself to criticise Rob Cowan's choices; this year, Harriet Walters seemed determined to have nothing but contumely for dear old Simon Hayes' choices. Incidentally, given that these were supposed to be their records of the year, did anyone else find it odd that Hayes admitted that he could conceive of better performances of the Arne than the one under review? I mean,come on, unless the record is superlative in every respect how can it be the record of the year? It also struck me, that none of the pieces chosen were of undisputed masterpieces. Interesting repertoire but not "essential classics" to use a phrase in currency.

[Alf-Prufrock]

Bah humbug!

I have to confess that this struck me as a bizarre undertaking. It seems de rigueur for someone to play the part of Marley's Ghost on these occasions:last year, Jeremy Summerly took it upon himself to criticise Rob Cowan's choices; this year, Harriet Walters seemed determined to have nothing but contumely for dear old Simon Hayes' choices. Incidentally, given that these were supposed to be their records of the year, did anyone else find it odd that Hayes admitted that he could conceive of better performances of the Arne than the one under review? I mean,come on, unless the record is superlative in every respect how can it be the record of the year? It also struck me, that none of the pieces chosen were of undisputed masterpieces. Interesting repertoire but not "essential classics" to use a phrase in currency.

I do wonder whether I will long remain a participant or even an observer of this board when I read curdled, spiteful comments such as this, and so many elsewhere in these threads. In response to Panjandrum's message, I have to say I detected no contumely in this programme, but merely an honest expression of enthusiastic or doubtful beliefs. I also doubt the balance of a person who can get two of the names of the contributors wrong.

Moreover who is to say a classic is essential or even a classic? No doubt Panjandrum could provide, say, a list of 1000 such works, but that is not to say that I would agree with all or even a majority of them. As it happens, I think most of the chosen works in this Critics' Choice do fit the category of 'essential classics' and are masterpieces, though I cannot say undisputed since I assume that Panjandrum would dispute that, say, Bartok's second concerto and Ravel's Gaspard fit the bill. I even harbour the expectation that (tell it softly) they might even appear in Panjandrum's 1000.

In the matters of what strikes one as a record of the year, surely one know best for oneself what fits the bill. We cannot let others dictate to us what we like or savour.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I do wonder whether I will long remain a participant or even an observer of this board when I read curdled, spiteful comments such as this, and so many elsewhere in these threads. In response to Panjandrum's message, I have to say I detected no contumely in this programme, but merely an honest expression of enthusiastic or doubtful beliefs. I also doubt the balance of a person who can get two of the names of the contributors wrong.

Moreover who is to say a classic is essential or even a classic? No doubt Panjandrum could provide, say, a list of 1000 such works, but that is not to say that I would agree with all or even a majority of them. As it happens, I think most of the chosen works in this Critics' Choice do fit the category of 'essential classics' and are masterpieces, though I cannot say undisputed since I assume that Panjandrum would dispute that, say, Bartok's second concerto and Ravel's Gaspard fit the bill. I even harbour the expectation that (tell it softly) they might even appear in Panjandrum's 1000.

In the matters of what strikes one as a record of the year, surely one know best for oneself what fits the bill. We cannot let others dictate to us what we like or savour.

Now let's have a bit of "peace on earth and mercy mild", eh? - if only between ourselves.